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As the fires of excellence shine at your door, generosity itself smiles

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This is one of my favourite sayings, from the Arabic, carved above the door of the Myrtles Palace in the Alhambra in Spain. I’m pretty sure that what it’s saying is something like: “Be great and good stuff will happen!”

I’m a big fan of striving in this way and I wish that everybody felt they had one thing that they wanted to be excellent in doing. The actor and comedian Steve Martin said something I really love:

Be so good that they can’t ignore you!

This is also a very important area for businesses to address.

One of my favourite business books, ‘From Good to Great’ by Jim Collins has as part of its core approach something called the ‘Hedgehog Concept’. Collins describes this as being the intersection between these three factors:

that which drives your business’ economic engine

that which your business can be deeply passionate about

that which your business can be the best in the world at.

Collins holds that this intersection is the turning point between the build-up to greatness and the actual breakthrough towards it. Without it, your business can be good, even very good. But not great.

What about you and your own business?

If it was possible to set aside any doubts or limiting beliefs about what might be achievable, what’s the one thing you’d like your business to be excellent at doing?

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